I am going to Arizona!!

Not Disney Land?

http://www.azcentral.com/travel/visitor/attractions/articles...

http://www.phoenixasap.com/phoenix-attractions.html

When you head back from the Grand Canyon to Phoenix you need to get off the freeway and take the highway to Sedona that follows the river into Sedona. Beautiful scenery on the drive from The Canyon on the way to Sedona. Then from Sedona take the route through Prescott. Prescott was the capital at one time and the square in the middle of town is like going back in time and looks more like a small town in the Midwest than Arizona. Nice downtown shopping and restaurants.

Make sure you have the latest red light camera poi.

If you're an airplane nut and have time to drive down to Tucson, the 'Pima Air and Space Museum' is interesting.
http://www.pimaair.org/

RT

There are so very many. Here on POI Factory are a number of good Arizona POI's - including the Out of Africa Wildlife Park in Camp Verde (near Sedona) http://www.poi-factory.com/node/18017 - Phoenix Cultural Spots http://www.poi-factory.com/node/4092 - Arizona Scenic ByWays http://www.poi-factory.com/node/2235 - Phoenix Attractions (includes AZ sites) http://www.poi-factory.com/node/1839 .

You should travel up to Jerome (Sedona, Jerome and Camp Verde are all in the same area). Coming back from the Grand Canyon you can go to Flagstaff where there's lots of sites, including the Snow Bowl chair ride on the San Francisco Peaks (high point in AZ), Northern Arizona University and the old town in which there are many restaurants, street performers and activities.

Going futher south past Phoenix there is Tucson (yes the Pima Air Museum is quite interesting if you have any interest in aviation), Old Tucson, the Desert Sonora Museum and the Old Pueblo. If you go south of there you have the San Xavier Mission, the border in Nogales (not real safe these days), Patagonia, and Ft. Huachucha, Tombstone and Bisbee. All are quite interesting.

Those should keep you busy. Your next trip you can try the Mogollion Rim, Ft. Apache and the White Mountains, Yuma and the London Bridge in Lake Havasu.

Have fun.

I'm leaving tomorrow for KY, TN, Chicago, Niagra Falls, Boston, Connecticut, NYC, Raleigh and then back.

If you search "Arizona" on this site and select POIs you'll find many, many files that you can use.

I've created a number that are Tucson-centric. There are a few based on lists from Arizona Highways magazine.

Not sure where you are coming from, but Arizona is huge and there are literally hundreds of places to go and see. Besides the middle and south east part of the state, which has only been touched on, there is also Navajo land northeast of Flagstaff, Page & Lake Powell & Monument Valley. East of Flag, Meteor Crater, Winslow, Canyon de Chelly...

And that's ignoring the rest of the western and southern part of the state.

The best advice is to pick and area and stick to that otherwise you'll be doing many hours and many miles of driving.

You've got a great selection to choose from already from Grand Canyon, to Flag, to Sedona and Jerome. Drive a little less and linger a little more. You'll be glad you did. Everything will still be waiting for your next visit!

you might want to go by sunset crater near flagstaff, it's cone volcano.

This is great stuff, I am taking notes and downloading Poi's. And as far as searching is concerned, I did that first, but came back with results that talked about red light camera's and such. Lots of results to go through. I posted the question because I know there are many great people here. Even though I don't post much myself (Not enough to stay alive, but I just toss over the $20 and subscribe for a year) I figured I would not only get Poi's, but also some advice too. Sometimes just d/l a Poi doesn't explain why I should go there. My car may have unlimited millage, but I don't have unlimited time and funds. So I am writing this stuff down and loading the Poi's in my Zumo. I thank everyone for their help and hope with it, it will be a fun trip.

We went on an 4 hour ATV excursion $100 cash (under the table) or $125 charge. We drove there, it was east of Phoenix about 20-30 miles. Look up ATV Excursions ot ATV Tours on the web.

During our stay we ate only mexican food, used our Garmin to find what restaurants were near by. All we had to do was drive by, if the place had a lot of customers we went in. Many where stands which we pass up.

We went to the Pima Air Museum, it was pretty good. Get there early before it gets hot, it is probably still 90+ there.

Go to Williams AZ off of I-40 west of Flagstaff and ride the train into the Grand Canyon. We did the rear car and it was great. The scenery was awesome and it drops you off at the rim of the canyon for a bus tour.
Botanical gardens in Phoenix and wild life zoo in Glendale are really nice. The Desert museum in Tucson is really cool for plants and animal that live in the desert.
Drive up Dynamite Road out of Scottsdale into the hills to see cactus and some great scenery.
See the church in Sedona built into the hills, eat lunch at sedona airport, and drive AZ Hwy 89A from Sedona to Flagstaff - scenery is spectacular. Go on Flickr.com to see my photos.

Be sure to take my North American Breweries file. Nothing like a cold microbrewed beer on a hot Arizona day.

There is also Montezuma Castle just north of Camp Verde on hwy. 17. That's where cliff dwelling Indians used to live.

http://www.nps.gov/moca/

The Phoenix Botanical Gardens are fantastic. When we were there, they even had a couple night tours to see night life with flashlights, I highly recommend that. If you're a Frank Llyod Wright fan, Talesin West is outside of Scottsdale. Very cool architecture. As mentioned earlier, the drive from Flaggstaff to Sedone via the Oak Creek Canyon is beautiful. The drive from the Grand Canyon to Flaggstaff via the Coconino forest is fantastic. If leaving Grand Canyon south rim, turn left at the Flintstones (it will make sense when you see them!). A prickly pear margharita at the Havalina Cantina in Sedona is a nice way to cool off. If you're anywhere north, close to the Utah border, you will definately want to see Antelope canyon. It's a slot canyon and simply amazing. Skip the town tour place and head straight to the canyon where you can get a native american guide to take you (must have guide to go). Also outside of Page is Horseshoe Canyon. A little hike across desert to get there, but way cool. The painted desert was cool, but if you're limited on time, I would skip that one. As already mentioned, I also found Sunset Crater to be cool. My wife and I were there for a week so a lot of this is doable, but we did put a lot of miles on the rental.

If your in the Page area, also take the time for a cruise on Lake Powell through the canyons. Amazing sites.

Located in Green Valley Arizona just south of Tucson is the only remaining preserved example of a Titan II missile silo. In the mid-'80s as part of the Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty (SALT) with the then-Soviet Union, the other 53 Titan II sites were destroyed or filled with concrete to make innoperable.

Just up the road from the volcanoes are some impressive ruins from several of the ancient pueblo peoples.

If you make it this far, look for a turnout a little south of Page on the main road (-111.501199, 36.876338). There is an awesome view of the Colorado as it makes a u-turn several hundred feet below you. Site is known as Horseshoe Bend. The path takes you to the very edge!

If you're in this area, a visit to the North Rim is a must. It is much more than a view of the Canyon from the other side. The views along Marble Canyon and the Vermilion Cliffs are unspoiled and the balanced boulders near Lee's Ferry are a surprise.

There's are really big man-made hole in the ground near Globe (-111.011753, 33.171694) and another further east at Morenci (-109.381499, 33.089588). You can see them from the highway.

If you see nothing else at least see the Grand Canyon. It blew us away last year when we saw it for the first time.

cheers

If you have any interest in music, check out the recently-opened Musical Instrument Museum in north Phoenix. We spent five hours there, and didn't see half of the exhibits. They have a nice restaurant too. Plug the intersection of N. Tatum Blvd. and E. Mayo Blvd. in Phoenix into your GPS, and you'll get there.

Web site: http://themim.org/

If you like caves there are a few you might enjoy:

1- Colossal Cave - Tucson
2- Kartchner Caverns - Tucson
3- Grand Canyon Caverns - Peach Springs
4- Ice Cave - Flagstaff

You should try this place.
6185 W Chandler Blvd
Chandler, AZ 85226

Is that the place where servers dress as nurses and cooks as doctors?

You could drive a bit farther west and see Hoover Dam. It's pretty impressive. It's only a few hours from the West Rim of the Grand Canyon.

The healthcare professionals are happy to pose.

Cheers

just don't forget where you come from and the rest will fall in its place

Down around Needles, CA, if I remember correctly, but also going into AZ there seemed to be a few towns that had way more police on the highway than seemed appropriate. It actually appeared that some cops were in a loop where they'd wait to pull people over and then get off on the very next exit to go back and start the loop anew.

Some of the Native American reservations had more speed traps than I had expected too . .

Anywho, enjoy your trip!

Tombstone, AZ is a good take.

The town is "almost" like it was 125 years ago !

Some places not mentioned:

- Petrified National Forest
- Monument Valley
- Painted Desert
- North Rim of the Grand Canyon
- Navajo Bridge is cool if you're heading to the North Rim
- London Bridge (Lake Havasu City) - this is really more of a "oh, I did that" kind of place. It's not Tower Bridge in London.
- Saguaro National Park (Tuscon)
- Meteor Crater (just East of Flagstaff on I40)

An out-of-the-way trip I used to take: AZ-88 from Mesa up to Roosevelt Dam. It's paved about half the way and then it goes to dirt and, with the washboard effect, it gets a little slow. You'll definitely be ready to get off of it by the end. It's a neat little trip, though.

This was 10+ years ago but I think it was about 15mi of dirt roads that took about 45min to cross.

They have quite a collection, thanks for posting the link.

Yea but now you have to pay to see the shoot out.

WOW not sure if I will have enough time, but I am taking all this down. Thanks for all the advise and suggestions.

The Prescott trip is a good idea. If you get there go to Jerome-very cool. If you're into astronomy get to Flagstaff and see the Lowell Observatory.

My GPS has been disappointing from day 1 and this is only day 2. My hotel is in Mesa, AZ. I tried to find some local stuff around Mesa, I downloaded and installed the Poi's that was given above and what ever the search pulled up. FYI there is nothing in Mesa. I mean within 20 miles of this place. The places I went to are closed or open on weekend only. Most was just gone. Some place called well I forgot the name, but it had the word splatter in it. I found it on BING too, had good ratings, been gone fr over 2 years the place next door said. If I was to believe the GPS there is a Walmart superstore almost every 2+ miles. Of course the closest one to me wasn't there. Today will be my trip to the Grand Canyon, maybe if there is time we might go up to Bolder to see Hoover Dam, if not then that will be another day. Well, here's hoping for the best!! Have a nice day.

ATV Adventures - Pheonix

http://www.arizonaoutdooradventures.com/phoenixatvtours.htm

Direction and Map

http://www.arizonaoutdooradventures.com/phoenix_tucson_map3....

Hey Oditius. Sorry you hear your your first day in Arizona isn't going as expected. In one sense I'd agree about your comment about Mesa. Not sure which POI files you are referring to but I can only suggest when you get home that you contact the file authors or maintainers and let them know which locations were incorrect.

I suspect that your initial frustration will soon be replaced once you get out of the Valley of the Sun and start seeing the more of the state, especially the Canyon.

I also think you'll soon come to realize that unless you are in city centers, many things are more than 20 miles away. Like most western states, Arizona is huge, bigger than several eastern states combined. 20 miles away is nothing.

It got better once I stopped depending on the GPS for destinations to go and trusted Google and the sites webpages. We have had a great time here, will see the Out of Africa today in Grand Verde today, then on our way home tomorrow. For all of you in Arizona thanks for the great time, for all the folks thinking about Arizona, stop thinking and get your butts here. And for the folks who have helped me here, thanks. For a few pictures I have taken, look me up on facebook.

If I download a POI for a trip, or made my own, or have any build in ones in the Nuvi, I always put it in Mapsource and then view in google earth and make any changes before my trip. That way I know if any are incorrect and need changing. It sure makes my trips better to have every thing correct before I go. Might give this a try before your next trip.

I will remember that next year. I went ahead and subscribed to the red light/speed cameras paying $20 for the year (Well worth helping out Miss POI anyway). And forgot to turn on the alerts. lol

We also went to Arizona to visit some friends on 2 Sept. We bought a bronze statue of a Native American to remember the trip.

I wish I would of looked at this thread before we went for more ideas. We did visit Whiskey Row which was having a large craft show at the same time. Was a very nice ride with lots of Cactus to view.

BTW... 109 degrees every day. Since I am from Florida, the 109 was a bit different than what I was use to. In Florida you sweat. In Arizona, you bake!

All,
Like a top 40 play list, there is a market for custom POI lists for trips.

I am Cactus Mitch and I know the western part of the USA. What a great Holiday travel gift for visiting family.

I will be adding the custom trip POI service to my site: cactusmitch.info very soon.

Regards and what a great idea! yours Cactusmitch!